What an interesting album.
I've liked all the pre - released songs, so need to let it all sink in as a collective.

Just a couple thoughts. Andy Allo sounds sexy as hell, love her voice and licks.

BOB GEORGE IS BACK! The Gold Standard! However, this was the only part of the song that I liked. Went from being badass to treacle in 20 seconds.

Loving Time, although wish he'd left the affects of his voice in this one.

All in all, I'm bloody grateful for the genius that is Prince. Thank you for another gift.

I've chopped the 1st minute off from AOC and I'm now very happy. Thanks.

To me, it's a personal, intimate and a great album.

Thank you Prince.

Just (!) received my pre-sale copies...

luv4u said:

Both new albums are on constant repeat and will be for the next days and I really like them both so far ... so many tracks I love love love This Could Be Us, Way Back Home, Breakdown, U Know, Time, Affirmation III ...

[Edited 9/26/14 6:01am]

My little review of AOA...

First of all, like I wrote somewhere in the PLEC forum, being a rock fan, I was looking forward to PLEC most, and I was expecting PLEC to be the kind of album that can quench my thirst for rock Prince... much like LotusFlower, TRC and, yes, Planet Earth. And it surely delivers. I think PLEC will grow to become one of my favourite albums in the vein of his more recent rock output. I'm keeping these close to the chest, that's for sure.

That being said - and on to AOA ... Wow, this is the album I would never have expected Prince would (be able to) make again. AOA, to me, is truly the way forward, a new Prince, which promises to be the beginning of a new chapter in his career. Even if in some years from now, it only appeared to have been a one-shot... But I'm an optimist. I am so greatful towards Prince, WB and the youth for giving us, the fans, a concisive, scrupulously produced, fun, thematically focused album and a true return to form of someone I feel we parted with in the beginning of the 90s. At the same time, this Prince is trully 21st C.

I have been listening to it a couple of times - yeah, indeed, it's readily available in Belgian shops (or at least FNAC in Antwerp), and like many other people have said, it is even better when you listen to it from start to finish. All of a sudden, the laser beams in BREAKDOWN make sense, and a song I didn't particularly like one year ago, BREAKFAST CAN WAIT, fits like a glove.

my little Breakdown ...

ART OFFICIAL CAGE - indeed, maybe the least decent song, but, like others have said, could be considered as a long intro. It is really not that bad. It's fun, has many changes, it becomes great towards the end (with a rhythm that is almost like dubstep), accompanied by a roaring guitar. Prince is having fun here, kind of like I No. It also makes me think of Hot Chip's Out At The Pictures, a song which makes you think 'crazy mFs, what is this...' Certainly not the fart some people make of it.

COULDS - I've loved this song from day one. It like to compare it with DMSR, catchy chorus, a nice rhythm section, guitar licks, and the spoken part is so sexy and intriguing ... The song is nicely spun out; the spoken part actually is the first part of Affirmation.

BREAKDOWN - Like I said, all of a sudden, the lasers make sense, cause it fits within the concept of the album. Stomper of a ballad, the best on the collection. I used to have had enough of them, but sometimes they draw my attention, like e.g. Future Soul Song. This is more in the vein of Empty Room, and not related to Call My Name, thank god!

THE GOLD STANDARD - WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! This is fun production (the voice loop in the beginning), fonky as hell, a stomping beat, and, as I read elsewhere, very reminiscent of The Black ALbum. This track is just so focused, groovy, fun, with guitar licks, horns, a Cindy C-esque beat, crazy voices. It has everything!

U KNOW - just a great song, production-wise. Fits the album perfectly. Quite repetitive, but so hypnothizing. And the combination of the sampled loop with the Linn Drum programming makes for such a stomping trip. Just love it.

BREAKFAST CAN WAIT - I didn't really like it, esp. compared to other tracks that were surfacing one year ago (De Bourgeoisie, Groovy Potential), but ok, it is a nice enough piece to bring some contemporary r&b in the mix. Nice bass line.

THIS COULD BE US - Someone wrote - and I concur - that the song doesn't really have a lot of variation, and initially this was one of the least favourite new songs on the album. But now, as I'm listening to the album from start to finish, I'm kind of surprised that it is growing on me. There is a nice guitar 'solo' near the end. The instrumentation is very 90-ish. Would have fitted on D&P. Nice melody, but not that many variations.

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE - This is a grower, but come on, it's a great song. The synths harken back to mid 80s outtakes, the groove is spun out, strangely intriguing, and Andy Allo's participation is fantastic. I've just started loving this lady's talent, thanks to the two tracks that she sings on. Along with TIME, this song is like an update of vintage Prince, especially the synths, the slow groove, the details.

WAY BACK HOME - Second Wow-moment! This track is just something I didn't know Prince had in him, it really brings me on the brink of tears. Such great production, such emotional, personal lyrics. The loop is haunting, the female vocals are heartbreaking, his voice is so in-your-face. LOOOOVEE it till the day I retire from listening to music

FUNKNROLL - Guess what, I'm actually starting to prefer this version over the original one on PLEC. Like I said in the introduction, the PLEC version is what I had expected, and I sure like it enough, but we already know that kind of stuff from Prince. This is a nice take on the song in the first part, but what really makes it worth is the final minute, when the beat picks up, the chorus is repeated accompanied by a roaring guitar. Just what the album needed at this stage. It persuades me into thinking that quite some time went into putting together the pieces to form a nice, concisive album and a nice concept. After FUNKNROLL, WAY BACK HOME is a distant memory, but it will come back, and harder than you can imagine, in Affirmation III.

TIME - Compared to Forever in My Life by fellow orgers. After a couple of listens, I agree. The way Prince and Andy Allo play this out together is perfect. the chorus is catchy, intriguing, and romantic. Somewhere halfway a bass starts forcing its way to the front, resulting in a relaxed bass solo. Again, Forever In My Life is not far away. Just when you think you are completely won over, Prince wraps up the telephone call abruptly, and then we get the groove again with a horns section. Fade out. Wow again.

Affirmation III - I love WAY BACK HOME so much, that I would think, picking up the same theme, with the same haunting loop and Andy's sexy, breaking voice, and added to that some strings and piano and that same British spoken voice, would be too sadistical and a definite KO on the part of the listener, that Prince and the bastards involved wouldn't dare to use that as an outro. But as we know, we don't have to expect any sympathy from creative artists in great shape, so this is what they did. So there you go. It is such a knock-out, that after it ends, the silence that drops is so silent that I feel like a very sad film has ended, the lights go back on, people are scrambling to get up from their sits, and there is a shared return to reality.

Yes, people, I think it's THAT good.

NB: After listening AOA, you can put on PLEC, and on the first notes of WOW you realize you're into a second treat of a Third Kind.

PS: I had the CDs pre-ordered as well, haven't received them yet, but they will go to a dear friend of mine, as a belated birthday present.

Stymie said:

Is this finally you?

yep it is. I think I already posted some pics in the past, literally ages ago, but yeah this is a recent one

Art Official Cage reminds me of It's raining men.

AOA version of Funknroll reminds me of Pointer Sisters' Neutron dance.

But not as good.

novabrkr said:

There really is no more time to waste, an official single and a video need to be released now. And WB need to use their clout to get it on the radio. It would be such a shame for this album to sink.

Rorywan said:

Wonderful to walk into HMV this morning and see the shelves full of new Prince Cds 😀

Where would that be? I am in London and can't stand the wait...

Why does PLEL have a booklet but doesn't my AOA have a booklet?

It feels like additional cheapness, whatever excuse is being floated.

welcome home class .. this is the review u have been waiting for .. mr. nelson? .. mr. nelson? i know u are in suspended animation but that is no excuse .. 4to5 years late this is what u hand me .. well judgement day has come .. stand before all that u stand 4 .. 4 if u do not stand for something u fall for anything ... shall we begin?

.

ART OFFICIAL CAGE .. what a great concept the cage is .. love the intro .. eye no its typical dance music lics but eye like it there .. nice poppy bass .. nice clean guitar .. fun horns .. singing not so good .. but not so bad .. the funk beat is so fun i don't mind prince singing .. uh oh .. now its chipmunk prince philophising .. ow shit it really is Tony M .. and did he name check NEFER ASSET TITI damn this guy does read the ORG .. alright if i pay no attention to the lyrics this is a super fun track .. even tho i really like the concept of the track lyrically the lyrics them selves are nothing great ..

.

CLOUDS .. starts with something sample sounding .. the beat sounds like something BIG would rap over to try to get the girls to buy his records .. but yeah .. this is easily the worst song on the record ... i have a song called "give me one more chance to make ur underpants get up and dance" that is almost as stupid as the lyrics to this song .. but yeah this song is just like incense and candles to me .. a lot of lyrics that are just awful .. after such a funky intro with Art Official Cage, Clouds kinda ruins the beginning of the record .. hopefully something from PE will make a good replacement song on my mixtape

.

THE BREAKDOWN .. I still think this song is the best song Prince has written in a couple decades .. the lyrics are outstanding .. I keep thinking that maybe this song used to be called "wally" .. could it be .. did he finally dust it off? .. the lasers are fine .. the mastering is pretty really bad .. I can hear this song jammed out on guitar for 10 minutes live .. I really like that prince is saying he is sorry in this song and another one later on the record .. It seems like he is thinking about some of his superficial priorities .. this is a really great song in so many ways lyrically, musically .. it is a shame the mastering is so bad and the song is so short .. a lot of potential here ..

.

THE GOLD STANDARD .. Tony M returns in his role as Bob George this time .. ha maybe prince really is giving the org the middle finger .. he must know we hates that Tony M .. anyway so Tony M is singing the lyrics to baby knows as a dance chant .. a common flaw on this record is that prince reuses a lot of old lyrics and changes them so little it makes me wonder how dry that well really is .. but go round party like its 1999 .. probably a few more in there .. the music sounds a little old school .. lyrics still lacking but the harmonies are really nice .. I can't say that I find lyrics like "crazy amazing" to be an impressive ode to "power fantastic" .. power fantastic conjured all these images of what that meant in my mind .. crazy amazing sounds like something snooki texted on twitter .. but I digress ... prince is now singing about how good music used to be .. why does prince keep writing songs about how good music used to be? .. it makes for a bad song that noone will relate to .. its like hearing your grandparents tell u they used to walk 10 miles to school barefoot IN A SONG .. cmon prince ... live a little .. write about that! .. okback to the song .. ah "if what u play take ur troubles away and make somebody smile" sung in prince trademark "marbles in mouth" style .. or maybe he had Tony M's balls in his mouth .. not sure why prince still writes lyrics that dont fit the measure .. he does this on "guitar" as well with the "like a chain around your waist etc marbles" line .. it is one of my pet peves with prince that i find makes me not want to listen to the song ever again ... "turn it up let your body move" pretty sure he has sung that lyric in like everyfuckingsonghewrotesincewbsplit .. and bob george is rapping again .. ok this is not a good track at all .. now prince has tacked on the lolita "shake it like a pecker wood" ending .. sorry but this song is shit .. a bunch of rehash prince .. here come the horns .. pretty boring horn riffs .. y does prince have such boring horns when he could have horns like he did on y should eye do dat when i could do dis? .. ok now cloreen bacon skin rip .. its like that robert plant song where he sampled a bunch of old led zep riffs .. prince just threw the kitchen sink at this song and it still sucks

.

U KNOW ... this song sounds like someone else wrote the music .. i've heard this kind of piano uh huh loop before but i still really like it .. nice and minimal .. its the style prince influenced coming round and now prince be singing on the modern version .. dont need the rewind backwords mess .. it reminds me too much of the trauma that was npgmusic club when he butchered all those live tunes with the rewind censor button .. still this is a great song .. reminds me of how much better prince sounded on the remix of RNRLA without all the music and only a beat .. I could hear prince doing this one live but probably it will be with a band and turn into some lite jazz blues number instead of the electronic mood that it is .. love it .. great tune

.

BREAKFAST CAN WAIT .. hated this song on first listen .. it does not offend me as much as it once did .. pretty lazy lyrics but they are cute when he is not singing the "finally my eyes are open" part .. when he is singing that part tho .. it reminds me a lot of how much i hate "incense and candles" it just does not work and its just prefab rnb template music .. the song works much butter when prince is just talking normal with his simple lyrics delivered slowly .. ok prince is dating alvin the chipmunk and let the little guy sit in on the end of this song .. i may remix this song and take out the offensive parts .. otherwise this one is sure to hit the garbage can soon enough

.

THIS COULD BE US ... "sex with me aint enough .. that's why we gotta do it metaphysically" "in the middle of a cold cold night .. i think u will" .. one lyric is cute and everyone can relate to it .. one lyric is why prince music fails on the regular .. can u figure out which is which .. i bet u can if u think real hard .. this is a song that had great potentially lyrically conceptually nice chords but some real bad lyrics thrown in there make it real hard to like this one .. and his major key conclusive way of ending the phrase "this could be us" is a bit sesame street .. it's that graffitti bridge (the song) style of writing that does nothing for me .. eye am a minor key kinda guy .. this one hits the garbage can too

.

THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE ... reminds me of the emancipation 'sound' .. maybe that da da da song with the bass .. "your names not david and it sure aint saul" same lyrical problem we had with prince singing about "steve" on "feel better feel good" .. then we get the "silly rabbit playing trix" condescending 'wo is me' prince "all my girlfriends are hookers" song .. lyrically this one is allready in the sewer .. the chorus is ok and not too grating but the lyrics are all pretty bad .. another song with potential that prince ruined .. recycle bin then delete

.

A FIRM ASS SON 1+2 ... ok i like the chick talking ... good stuff

.

WAY BACK HOME ... this is a good song .. lyrically and the music is interesting .. and the singing delivery is sincere .. it sounds really great to hear prince sing with a bit of passion .. the way his voice curls around the chorus and cracks a little emotion .. ug .. well some lyrics are not "great" but a lot of good lyrics in there ..

.

FUNK N ROLL .. again we have some lyrics on repeat for prince "get it turned up" "lets party like u aint gonna party again" is 1999 all over again .. except "party like it's 1999" conjurs a much more colorful image than the funknroll lyric .. get yer party on .. who ya gonna call? .. ghost busters? the ghost of prince old lyrics in full effect here .. I do think "get into the rythm its good for the soul" is a great lyric tho .. nice twist prince hasn't used before .. has that playful feel of daddy pop .. so mostly the lyrics are all shit but the music is certainly very interesting .. when he hits that classic "ow w w w " that leads into the keyboards and guitar it actually sounds like old prince for a second .. this is a fun funk jam if you ignore the stupid lyrics

.

TIME ... ok this is probably the best thing on the record .. the chorus is classic .. the lyrics are super great .. seems like prince is apologizing again .. the girl gets all the good lyrics tho .. so maybe prince did not write them .. ok i take that back .. prince does have some bad lyrics and delivery .. he should have just let the girl write all the lyrics .. still the chorus is so strong it would be hard to delete this song ..

.

AFRO NATION 3 .. still like these things but it sounds like she is talking over little red corvette, which is cheating .. p gotta come up with some new stuff already .. does make a nice outro tho

.

so I kinda like 6 tunes on here .. that is not too bad but half of those are plagued with really bad lyrics .. I am gonna give this record

.

2 OUT OF 5 STARS

.

That is because The Breakdown is a classic that will hopefully live on like The One did in some form .. and he has got some other good ideas .. but not enough to make this a classic or great record .. it is more like a 'not quite as offensive to my ears as he has been' record .. a couple good ideas but not much more than he had on lotus .. prince needs a lyricist real bad .. he really could have a great record if he chopped out ALL his rap and rnb efforts and just did songs only prince can do .. prince sucks at rap and he sucks at rnb .. he had great rnb tunes but they were more than rnb .. scandelous .. do me baby .. it had more bite .. his rnb now is bland stock arrangements that any boring musician on the radio could be singing ..

.

I have not heard PE yet but I really can imagine a couple good tunes from that record with prince singing would have helped this record. There are at least 4 crap tunes on here like CLOUDS that should never have seen daylight. It's too bad prince still won't let wb guide him to a great record and return. As much as I like some tunes on here, none of them are "hits". None of them have what a beyonce or miley or kanye tune have that will get them over with the masses .. maybe a big debut on the charts but this guy doesn't hear a single.

[Edited 9/26/14 7:58am]

[Edited 9/26/14 8:04am]

TrevorAyer said:

None of them have what a beyonce or miley or kanye tune have that will get them over with the masses .. maybe a big debut on the charts but this guy doesn't here a single.

.

If Prince has to start pumping out crap like that for hits, then I don't want it. I can maybe understand Beyonce, but she has something Prince doesn't, she's a hot female. But Miley & Kanye, are you f'n serious? They may appeal to the masses, but imo that doesn't make them good.

Phishanga said:

The "Until I find my / my way back home" line in Way Back Home and Affirmation III is really, really beautiful.

nosajd said:

TrevorAyer said:

None of them have what a beyonce or miley or kanye tune have that will get them over with the masses .. maybe a big debut on the charts but this guy doesn't here a single.

.

If Prince has to start pumping out crap like that for hits, then I don't want it. I can maybe understand Beyonce, but she has something Prince doesn't, she's a hot female. But Miley & Kanye, are you f'n serious? They may appeal to the masses, but imo that doesn't make them good.

Yeezus was the best prince record prince never wrote .. yeah kanye is cheesy sometimes but he always had talent and Yeezus (save one crap song) is top notch .. u cant stop by miley is also top notch classic tune .. her other stuff is ok but u can see she has that dolly parton blood and has a knack .. beyonce i dont even like very much but i can hear why that drunk in love song is a hit .. i also love that rhianna song 'stay' .. all of these songs sound like what prince should be putting out to me .. its his minimalist sound and style .. echo dark dance robot pop .. but prince is too busy hyping his bravado and sex skills and it is super boring and shallow and making lyrics out of new age pamphlet texts and just stuff like that .. he can do better

I could listen to Time about a hundred times in a row..... love that song....... The rest, not so much. I could go on about how mediocre this album is to me, how it has brief moments of "There's the Prince I love!" (Like the "You don't need to be rude...." part of Gold Standard) and a few moments of "I like this, but its still not great Prince music" (U Know), but..... I'll just say I give it a 6/10. I like it better than any of the more recent albums, it's interesting, but just doesn't do it for me. But at least it's interesting.

I am so pleasantly surprised! He actually has put togteher a cohesive album that works as a concept, [steals some ideas from Janelle's lost in space theme though!] Above all else every song actually has something sonically interesting happening - on my 3rd listen I keep hearing new stuff. I won't bore you all with a song by song take as all our opinions differ etc. I have to say well done to Josh if he has had any influence on this - the end result is a great album & THAT IMHO is what counts at the end of the day. Enjoy.

KlyphIsBackAgain said:

S3V3N said:

Phishanga said:

The "Until I find my / my way back home" line in Way Back Home and Affirmation III is really, really beautiful.

Is that Feist providing backup vox? Sure reminds me of Feist...

or Delilah...

S3V3N said:

Phishanga said:

The "Until I find my / my way back home" line in Way Back Home and Affirmation III is really, really beautiful.

Is that Feist providing backup vox? Sure reminds me of Feist...

oops...

[Edited 9/26/14 8:39am]

No need for me to go through a track by track analysis of the album because I can sum it up with one track....."The Gold Standard". That's the baddest jam he's made in years and is proof that he is still capable of throwing down just as hard as he always has. Having said that, since he is indeed capable of still jamming, it is also proof that he is selling out with the rest of the album in a desperate attempt to get back into the mainstream in a day and age when the mainsteam is the worst it has ever been in history so lowering standards and trying to gain their approval only keeps the present mainstream sound alive even longer and doesn't attempt to change it to something better. It just keeps the same old mainstream alive year after year and decade after decade. Since I don't support selling out, my money won't be going to help him profit from it. One jam just to show he can still jam ain't enough for me. If he ain't gonna throwdown, he needs to sit down.

Welcome to the now Mr. Nelson!

This is such a homogenous and fantastic produced album.

Didn´t hear such a great Prince album for a veeeeeery long time.

After the first listen this is definitely in my Top10, maybe more, time will tell....

Highlights:

Clouds

U Know

Way Back Home

Funknroll

Time

affirmation III

There is not a single song that i want to skip. Maybe the first song is a bit strange

but in the context of the whole album this song is alright.

Thanks Prince for this milestone in your album history!